HogNose Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 *update..... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/01/air.france.brazil/index.html Fears for 228 as Air France jet vanishes (CNN) -- A French passenger aircraft carrying 228 people has disappeared off the coast of Brazil, airline officials say. Air France told CNN the jet was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when contact was lost. The airline said flight AF447 was carrying 216 passengers in addition to a crew of 12. The plane is listed as an Airbus A330. State radio reported a crisis center was being set up at Charles de Gaulle where the plane had been due to land at 11.15 a.m. local time. Reports said an air force search and rescue operation was underway around the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, 365 kilometers (226 miles) off the mainland. The Airbus 330 is a twin-engined long-range aircraft introduced into commercial aviation in the 1990s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titaw Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I heard on the junkies that Terry O'Quinn, John Locke from LOST, was on that plane. If that is true, how ironic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drop Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I heard on the junkies that Terry O'Quinn, John Locke from LOST, was on that plane. If that is true, how ironic. what?? are you joking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm afraid I think I know where it went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdskn4Lyf21 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 They just showed shots of families at CDG airport in France...absolutely heartbreaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 damn that's crazy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HogNose Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 damn that's crazy... Yeah they are going to have a hard time finding this due to the lack of radar over the Atlantic. Always awful to the see the families,friends gathered at the airports during tragedies like this. Peace to them. :peace1: Here's an update: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/01/air.france.brazil/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I just saw where they said that the plane was having electrical problems earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 This is not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Lightning damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Oh man, that's just awful. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the passengers' loved ones. How sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 It seems incredible that a plane of that size can just disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titaw Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 what?? are you joking? The Junkies reported it, but I don't think it's true because I can't find anything on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HogNose Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 It seems incredible that a plane of that size can just disappear. Well while transatlantic, planes are off radar for most of it and are on radio communication . It could be like a needle in a haystack searching for it in the Atlantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IbleedBnG83 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 They also said it would have ran out of a fuel a while ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/brazil_plane Missing French jet hit thunderstorms over AtlanticBy ALAN CLENDENNING and GREG KELLER, Associated Press Writer Alan Clendenning And Greg Keller, Associated Press Writer – 58 mins ago SAO PAULO – A missing Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris ran into a towering wall of thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean, officials said Monday, fearing that all aboard were lost. The area where the plane could have gone down was vast, in the middle of very deep Atlantic Ocean waters between Brazil and the coast of Africa. Brazil's military searched for it off its northeast coast, while the French military scoured the ocean near the Cape Verde Islands off the West African coast. French President Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those aboard that "prospects of finding survivors were very small." If all 228 were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since 2001. Sarkozy, speaking at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, said the reason for the disappearance remained unclear and that "no hypothesis" was excluded. "(I met with) a mother who lost her son, a fiancee who lost her future husband. I told them the truth," he said. Sarkozy said "it will be very difficult" to find the plane because the zone where it is believed to have disappeared "is immense." He said France has asked for help from U.S. satellites to locate the plane. Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said "it is possible" the plane was hit by lightning, but aviation experts expressed doubt that a bolt of lightning was enough to bring the plane down. Air France's manager in Rio de Janeiro, Jorge Assuncao, told reporters that the two biggest groups of nationalities aboard were Brazilian and French. Other passengers were American, Angolan, Argentine, Belgian, British, Chinese, Filipino, German, Irish, Italian, Moroccan, Norwegian, Spanish and Slovakian. Air France Flight 447, a 4-year-old Airbus A330, left Rio on Sunday at 7:03 p.m. local time (2203 GMT, 6:03 p.m. EDT) with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, said company spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand. The plane left Brazil radar contact, beyond the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, at 10:48 local time (0148 GMT, 9:48 p.m. EDT), indicating it was flying normally at 35,000 feet (10,670 meters) and traveling at 522 mph (840 kph). About a half-hour later, the plane "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence." It sent an automatic message fourteen minutes later at 0214 GMT (10:14 p.m. EDT Sunday) reporting electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure. Air France told Brazilian authorities the last information they heard was that automated message reporting a technical problem before the plane reached a monitoring station near the Cape Verde islands. Brazilian Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said seven aircraft had been deployed to search the area far off the northeastern Brazilian coast. "We want to try to reach the last point where the aircraft made contact, which is about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) northeast of Natal," Amaral told Globo TV. Meteorologists said tropical storms are much more violent than thunderstorms in the United States and elsewhere. "Tropical thunderstorms ... can tower up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). At the altitude it was flying, it's possible that the Air France plane flew directly into the most charged part of the storm — the top," Henry Margusity, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said in a statement. Brazil's Navy said it was sending three ships to search waters about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from Natal. Portuguese air control authorities say the missing plane did not make contact with controllers in Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores Islands nor, as far as they know, with other Atlantic air traffic controllers in Cape Verde, Casablanca, or the Canary islands. In Washington, a Pentagon official said he'd seen no indication that terrorism or foul play was involved. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject. Sobbing relatives of people aboard the plane arrived at an airport in Sao Paulo to fly on to Rio de Janeiro, where Air France was assisting relatives. Andres Fernandes, his eyes tearing up, said a relative "was supposed to be on the flight, but we need to confirm it," Globo TV reported. At the Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris, family members who had arrived to meet passengers refused to speak to reporters and were brought to a cordoned-off crisis center. Air France said it expressed "its sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew members" aboard Flight 447. The airline did not explicitly say there were no survivors, but allowed Sarkozy address the issue for them. Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, at a news conference, said the plane's pilot had 11,000 hours of flying experience, including 1,700 hours flying this aircraft. Experts said the absence of a mayday call meant something happened very quickly. "The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion," Jane's Aviation analyst Chris Yates told The Associated Press. "Potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn't have a chance to make that emergency call." But aviation experts said the risk the plane was brought down by lightning was slim. "Lightning issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They are less common now since it's easier to avoid thunderstorms," said Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va. He said planes have specific measures built in to help dissipate electricity along the aircraft's skin, and are tested for resistance to big electromagnetic shocks and equipped to resist them. He said the plane should be found, because it has backup locators that should continue to function even in deep water. If all 228 people were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jetliner crashed in the New York City borough of Queens during a flight to the Dominican Republic, killing 265 people. On Feb. 19, 2003, 275 people were killed in the crash of an Iranian military plane carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards as it prepared to land at Kerman airport in Iran. The worst single-plane disaster was in 1985 when a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountainside after losing part of its tail fin, killing 520 people. Airbus would not further comment until more details emerged. "Our thoughts are with the passengers and with the families of the passengers," said Airbus spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma. She said it was the first fatal accident of a A330-200 since a test flight in 1994 went wrong, killing seven people in Toulouse. The Airbus A330-200 is a twin-engine, long-haul, medium-capacity passenger jet that is 190 feet (58.8 meters) long. It is a shortened version of the standard A330, and can hold up to 253 passengers. There are 341 in use worldwide today. It can fly up to 7,760 miles (12,500 kilometers). Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE Aviation, expressed doubt that the engine was at fault. He said the CF6-80E engine that powered the Air France plane "is the most popular and reliable engine that we have for big airplanes in the world." He said there are more than 15,000 airplanes flying in the world with that engine design. The prospect of finding any survivors is very weak __ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 It seems incredible that a plane of that size can just disappear. I'm no aviation expert, but, depending on the problem, I would guess it would be a matter of just minutes for it to go from flying altitude, to the bottom of the Atlantic, thus pretty much disappearing for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy Burner Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 At this juncture, the only things that could be found are the black boxes and a few small pieces of the aircraft. Even then, the chances of finding these things are small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Small plane, HUGH ocean = it's very easy for the plane to be lost unfortunately. I can't even imagine what the family and friends of those on board are going through right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy Burner Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 That is difficult to imagine. And no one on the plane had the opportunity to make any last minute contacts with family, loved ones, or friends. What ever happened, it was quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I wonder why satellites can't help track down a plane like this, since they can track down just about anything else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokie4redskins Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I wonder why satellites can't help track down a plane like this, since they can track down just about anything else Or installing GPS "black boxes." You'd think the FAA would've been ahead of the curve on something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 How awful ...My prayers and thoughts go out to everyone on board and their families... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckus Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I still don't get it. It is really really really hard for a storm, or even a direct lightning strike, to take down a plane like that. I hope they can find the black box one day to find out what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da#1skinsfan Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Charles Widmore strikes again!!!!!!! On a serious note, does someone with knowledge of this understand how this is possible? With GPS and black boxes and everything else how can we not track this plane? Wouldnt we have the exact coordinates of at least where it went down IE where the signal was last sent from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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